


Becoming Human, Again

by CinnamonRaisinBagel



Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Child Abuse, Child Death, Child Izuku, Child shigaraki, Harm to Children, Kurogiri is an Android, Whumptober, indulgence fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:35:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonRaisinBagel/pseuds/CinnamonRaisinBagel
Summary: Combined the world of BNHA and Detroit Becoming Human. Midoriya's safety is in the hands of his caregiver and Android. It's a race to deviancy against the boy's father who has no value for his son's life.If you've read the To Depart and Remain series, Ichijorei is said Android. If you haven't read it already, you're missing out. Give the author of that series some love, yeah?
Relationships: Kurogiri & Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Midoriya Izuku & Ichijorei(To Depart and Remain)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984052
Comments: 9
Kudos: 25





	Becoming Human, Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nOtOk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nOtOk/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Dearly Departed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091526) by [nOtOk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nOtOk/pseuds/nOtOk). 



_ I want- _

“You’ve come back.” A deep voice noted. Ichijorei’s voice caught in his throat, head snapping in the direction of the exit where the door was now wide open. The familiar outline of a man stood in the hallway. Something long and thin glowed from out of his teeth.

The droid whipped around, pulling Izuku behind him with one hand and reaching out in a defensive stance with the other. His mind was whirring with information.  _ ‘How did he not hear him coming?’ _

Ichijorei opened his mouth to speak but was immediately drowned out as the air thickened to the consistency of  _ molasses _ . A horrible sense of dread radiated off of the old man in harsh brutal waves, so much so that it was even affecting  _ him _ . 

A jolt of panic shot through him as he heard the boy begin to whimper and wheeze hysterically. The way Izuku was hyperventilating, it almost seemed like the aura itself was suffocating him. 

“We aren’t coming back.” He shot out impulsively. Ichijorei shoved down the bit of penitence his programming forced on him, willing his voice to push back on the raging aura threatening to overwhelm them. 

The familiar voice rumbled on with a low chuckle. The older gentleman stepped into the room and placidly flicked the door closed behind him. He didn’t miss the subtle ‘click’ as it shut. The familiar tapping of a walking cane paired with a fancy three-piece-suit and cold green eyes. 

“What do you think you’re doing with my boy, flunkie?”

“I want you to leave him alone.” Ichijorei paused at his own words, soaking them in. His feelings were true, but to hear them from his own mouth was…

The feeling rushing through him felt so foreign and unconventional. Still, it only made him grip the boy even tighter.

“Did I hear that right? You  _ want _ ? _ ” _ Hisashi stepped forward, cautious but intrigued. Ichijorei stepped back, but they were already hitting the wall. 

“Yes.” For once, he was grateful for his mechanic response. It hid his growing uneasiness. He knew that against a man like Hisashi, no matter what programming or abilities he had, the chances of besting him were...slim. 

“Hm,” The man scoffed with a hearty laugh, tilting his head up and blowing a ring of smoke from his lips, “How intriguing. Garaki mentioned the possibility of this sort of thing happening but admittedly I had my doubts. He always finds a way to surprise me, that man.” 

Ichijorei repressed a scowl at the mention of the Doctor. It had been so long since he’d thought about him. The tests, the experiments… it brought up a sea of memories he’d rather not remember. Under his synthetic skin, he could still feel the invasive probe of instruments stripping away at his mind and body. Why did he forget something so important? When did he stop thinking at all?

“Still, that is  _ my _ son, and you are my bionic servant. Give me the boy willingly and I will spare you your punishment. After all, this wasn’t your idea, hm? My boy must have led you astray, asked you to betray my trust. You can’t be blamed for following orders.”

Ichijorei felt the boy stiffen, two tiny fists balling into the back of his shirt. He had his face hidden in his protector’s back, his own body frozen yet trembling uncontrollably. 

“No.” The android placed a comforting hand on Izuku’s trembling shoulder and squeezed gently. “I did this. I won’t let you do what you will with him. That’s a promise.”

___

He dimly remembered carrying Izuku’s limp body out of his Master’s office. His green eyes were blank and still brimmed with unshed tears. Blood pooled onto the glossy tiled floor, something else he would have to clean up later. 

He stared at the boy’s face for a long moment, and with a feather-like touch, he brought his hand to hold the boy’s head where the blood steadily flowed and gently held him to his chest. The blood dripped onto his uniform rather than the floor. Of course, that’s why he did it. To avoid a bigger mess. It had to be. 

He remembered how heavy the boy felt despite him weighing practically nothing in his arms. The walk ended much faster than he had liked. With a hand he didn’t remember was shaking before, he opened the trash chute that dropped anything put inside straight down to the furnace. He hesitated. The task was simple enough. Dispose of the boy’s body and clean up the master office. Simple. Simple.  _ Simple. _

The android looked at the boy’s face again. Something ached so deeply in his chest. His fingers slowly slipped off the handle and the chute fell closed. His programming screamed in protest. He ignored it. 

With quicker, more determined steps he paced instead to the boy’s room that was more like a closet than anything. He wrapped the boy in a blanket and gently set him inside. He let the mechanical part inside of him take over and went to clean the mess as instructed. 

_ Mop the blood. Discard the broken furniture. Clean up the fragments.  _

He tried not to think about anything. He tried not to think about the blood of the boy he had been watching over for the last couple of weeks. He tried not to think about the sound the child’s head made when Hisashi grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him repeatedly into the desk. He tried not to think about the way his boy begged for his life, sobbing so hard he was barely able to breathe, the way his voice got higher and higher in desperation the closer and more threatening his master got. 

“Highly inefficient,” he remembered his master sighing in distaste, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the blood on his hands. “Let this be a lesson to you, Tomura. Don’t be like Izuku here.  _ Weak _ and disobedient.”

Ever since he had gained custody of Izuku, the boy had been a growing problem. This was the inevitable conclusion. His master only kept him around as an example for his real heir. Nothing more. 

His master watched the fire pit that night, a cigar in his teeth, his cold eyes watching into the flames. There was a low tenor drifting off of him, a feeling of disdain that Ichijorei couldn’t place. He just hoped he wouldn’t notice the only things burning were the broken furniture and trash. To his relief, he didn’t seem to. Still, the old man walked off with a grunt. A glare he had no intention of hiding burning a hole right into Ichijorei’s back. 

Androids were a mere commodity to a man such as him. Ichijorei was Garaki’s gift to Hisashi. A ‘flunkie’, he called him, not a serious android like Kurogiri, but certainly better than any android sold in the market or store. The sudden presence of Hisashi’s birth child gave Garaki a chance to engineer a simpler, more daring design for his friend. And that android’s first duty was to watch over his throwaway child. 

Ichijorei was named,  _ ‘Helpful spirit’  _ for a reason he did not know. The name was a bit too long and hard to say for a five-year-old, so Izuku affectionately called him ‘Ichi-sama.’ His responsibilities consisted primarily of feeding him and keeping him out of the way. However, it quickly became apparent that the child needed more than just the tasks he’d been given to survive(?). 

He found out that as long as he kept Izuku out of sight, he could do just about anything and get away with it. Bathing, dressing, bathroom, even playing when they could.

However, there were times where he had to leave Izuku alone. When his master called for his presence he’d tuck Izuku in his tiny closet of a room and lock the door behind him. For  _ his _ protection. There were times when Tomura would slip past Kurogiri. He had almost been too late one time. A deafening scream had ripped out of Izuku’s throat when the boy started slowly disintegrating his leg. Thankfully, Kurogiri got to them first. 

**Kurogiri** . The same android that solemnly walked up to him after Ichijorei had returned from a mission. “Your presence is requested by the master.” His face turned darker when he added, “Young Izuku is with him."

__

"Ichi-sama! Ichi-sama!" Izuku’s little hands reached up to him, eagerly bouncing on his heels. The android practically dwarfed him in size. Izuku had been afraid of him at first. 

“No, Izuku. It’s time to sleep.” The android took the folded blanket and once again tried to coax the boy into his makeshift bed. 

“It’s not time for bed!” The boy retorted. Ah, another rational argument. He got these quite often. 

“It’s not the time? Why is that?” He indulged the boy, sweeping him off his feet and laying him in the cot. He really needed to wash those sheets…

“I’ve been asleep all day.” Ichijorei tilted his head at that, but not before cocooning the boy in his warmest blanket. 

“You’ve been with me all day, young Izuku. I think you must be tired by now.”

“No, Ichi-sama! I’ve been in here all day, see? See?”

The environment around him shifted and changed. The smiling child faded away. A tiny body swaddled tightly in sheets lay in his arms. Bloody sheets. Sheets he needed to clean. Sheets he hadn’t cleaned because...because…

Androids don’t dream. They just power-down and reevaluate the information given to them throughout the previous day. Androids do not sleep because they do not require it. 

Still, Ichijorei couldn’t help but wish he could. He wanted to wake up from his ‘nightmares’ and feel relief. To wake up and be assured that the worst of what he imagined was nothing short of a fantasy concocted by his mind. 

But his nightmare was very much reality. His boy was dead. He had lost him. And without a purpose, he was sure he would be the next to go. He was just a flunkie after all. Not a serious servant worth keeping around. 

Death was not a fate he was averse to, in fact, he found he accepted it quite easily. Something inside of him broke the moment Izuku left him. It wasn’t something a new fuse or circuit could fix. He wasn’t sure what to call it. Not until a familiar sound caught his ears the morning he walked by the closet door. 

__

His boy  _ did _ die. He did. His breath went still, his pulse froze, his body went pale and cold, later turning stiff. 

“It’s okay, Izuku. I am here.” he was almost crying himself as he cooed to the sobbing boy and taking him into his arms. There was still blood on his pale face and clothes and soft blanket he was still trapped in.

The child clung to him with desperate and fading strength. The android held him tightly but gently, running a hand through his hair where flakes of red drifted off like fine snow. 

_ Is this how it feels? The relief of waking up from a nightmare? _

He dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. Izuku was still very much in danger. The worst had happened and he had almost lost him. This is no dream, he had to remember that.  _ This is reality.  _

He was aware that his master had a widely known reputation for his atypical quirks, only second to his black-hearted nature. That being said, he could do some pretty outlandish things. But raising the dead wasn’t one that he was aware of. 

Why did he save Izuku? To continue making him an example? That was the only rational explanation he could think of. But, just the thought- he couldn’t let this happen again. Right? He wouldn’t, right?

The face of Hisashi Midoriya flashed into his head. His old features warmed by the glow of the spitting fire. A tundra hiding behind the forest his eyes betrayed. The way he stood there, waiting for Izuku to emerge so he could see him run and scream and panic, unable to escape the sea of ash and fire that only served to unsparingly kiss him goodnight. 

The android closed his eyes, escaping the searing image. He thought back on everything he had learned, seen, remembered. It all came back to him in dizzying flashes. He didn’t need to, he had already made his choice. There was a part inside of him that knew there was no going back. No going back to accepting the orders of his master, the experiments of the doctor, the danger constantly looming over Izuku like a stormcloud. 

When an Android becomes a deviant, they can’t go back. 

___

The world is ruled by humans. Humans have been around for thousands of years. Quirks only a couple hundred. And androids for only the past decade. 

The alleyways were dangerous. They were still on the rough side of the city. That needed to change quickly if they were going to make it anywhere. 

So many things were happening in the world outside of his old master’s abode. Villains and criminals littering the streets like rats, the uprising of deviants, and the violent protests against androids. It was much worse than Ichijorei could have ever imagined. 

He held Izuku closer. The boy whimpered and buried his face deeper into the crook of his neck. His head and neck were still sore and sensitive. The whispers of phantom pain ebbed in and out like a migraine. Even with mild pain relievers, it didn’t seem to do much. Small mercies meant everything right now. 

A sorry excuse of a mugger kindly ‘donated’ the items on his person for them. His wallet didn’t have much but it was enough for a bus ride to the next town, so that’s what mattered. The hoodie on the crony smelled like smoke and pot, but it would keep Izuku warm until they got something better. 

It was autumn and raining. The wind didn’t let up either. The frigidness the night brought was a concern. The first night they slept in an abandoned apartment building. There were some other bums, even some androids on the run. But they kept to themselves in the other rooms. Ichijorei didn’t care as long as Izuku was safe. 

The bus ride never came. The android’s disappearance was made known quickly, proved by the streets that were quickly swarmed with his ex masters lackeys. Ichijorei couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of being brought back to Garaki, nevermind everything else that would transpire if they were found now. 

Small mercies were everything. So even being found by Kurogiri was a mercy in itself. The android spoke robotically, obviously putting up a professional front in an attempt to save face, but the other knew his feelings well. Kurogiri wasn’t like the others or even his ex master. He truly cared about Tomura, the same way Ichijorei cared about Izuku. 

“The boy is alive?” He genuinely sounded surprised, maybe even a bit relieved. 

“You have to help me.” He stepped toward him like he was approaching an old friend. Unlike Kurogiri, Ichijorei didn’t hide the emotion in his voice. “He’s going to hurt him. Kill him.”

“An inevitability,” he stated simply. A spark of anger turned his soft words into seething daggers. 

“Would you let it be if it were Tomura in his place?” Ichijoeri spat. 

“You’re being tracked.” his words turned hard. In the shadow man’s hand appeared an odd-looking remote, “An inevitability, as long as they can find you.”

The blue blood in his veins froze. An audible paused hovered over them until his broken voice cut through the sound of the pouring rain, “How?”

His empty eyes looked back into desperate ones. “Garaki knows.”

__

_ “I won’t let you do what you will with him. That’s a promise.” _

He said. He  _ meant _ . But fear iced his veins at the sight of  _ him _ walking through the door to stand next to Hisashi. Garaki was a very private man. To see him in the same room as anyone else was a rarity unlike any other. 

The doctor lifted the spectacles off the bridge of his nose and huffed, “You were right, my dear friend. So they did come back.” He droned, setting his glasses back down, an amused tilt edging his tone. “Tried to find your tracker in my research, I’m guessing? No, I’m afraid you won’t find the answer here.” 

Ichijorei gripped his boy tighter. His jaw clenched, swallowing down his own unease and willing his emotions forward through his voice, “You. You’re the one who made me what I am.”

The man brushed his stache and looked up in thought, completely unbothered by the venom he was just spat with, “Mm, quite. I had hoped I’d make a breakthrough combining my research with robotics. A walking computer with two arms and two legs, -can blend in better than a beast too. But I found out too late what deviants were capable of. A remarkable development, might I say.”

“I am not your experiment or servant. Not anymore.”

“So you say.” Hisashi piped in, his hand resting on the doctor’s shoulder, “What do you reckon happens now? Can anything be salvaged?”

Garaki shook his head, “His bio components maybe, but Deviants are completely uncharted territory. I’ll have to start from scratch if I want to avoid this in the future.”

“And Kurogiri?” 

“I’ll dismantle him next. Just to be safe.”

That’s all Kurogiri needed to hear. 

The element of surprise was enough of an advantage to knock the big cheese off his game. A single large portal opened in the center of the room where they stood. With an almost dramatic pause, the old men looked down and fell through the void. And just like that, they were gone. 

Ichijorei was panting heavily, even though he didn’t need the air. “Where-” He croaked, “Where did you send them?”

“The furnace. We don’t have much time. Hisashi will escape.”

Ichijorei collected Izuku in his arms again. The boy was shaking, muttering apologies over and over. He wasn’t sure for what or why, but the pain in his voice was heartbreaking. “But, the trackers-”

Kurogiri straightened, moving to one of the bookshelves with a hovering hand. The room was a bit barer than before save for the desk. “There are no trackers.”

“What?” Ichijorei guffawed in disbelief. He was about to say something more when a folder was stuck in his face. 

“The tracker I used to find you, as it finds out, was for Izuku. Deviants cannot be tracked. You are free to leave here without fear, as am I with Tomura.” In Kurogiri’s hand was a folder of his own, “Use Garaki’s files to ally yourself with the heroes. Androids aren’t shown kindness these days, but with this, you may find some help.”

“But the tracker in Izuku.” He didn’t have to elaborate on the question, his friend already knew well. 

“It’s faulty. I was just lucky to have found you first.”

“What about you? You’re not coming with us?” Ichijorei watched as Kurogiri’s face morphed into a calm, content expression. 

“I’ll be along. My face is too well-known, not to mention android. They’d shoot first and ask questions later.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. A portal sprung up in front of them with an inviting purple glow, “You can skip the bus ride.”

“Then…

_ I guess I’ll see you again soon.” _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm really now sure how I feel about this fic. If you like it, hey! That's great. To me it feels a bit dry, I feel like there was a lot of potential I didn't reach. If you want more of this AU or other characters in the same world, give me a request! I can continue or expand on this if people are interested.


End file.
